The present invention relates, in general, to digital peak/valley detectors and, more particularly, to digital peak/valley detectors of analog signals.
Currently, there are many various digital-to-analog (D/A) convertors (DACs) known in the art. These DACs are used in various circuits to perform numerous activities such as tracking type D/A convertors which track an analog signal and provide a digital output of the signal.
A drawback of the current tracking D/A type convertors is that they are unable to provide information on maximum (peak) or minimum (valley) values of the analog signals.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a digital peak/valley detector which overcomes the above deficiencies.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a digital peak/valley detector which will detect peaks and valleys of an analog signal.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a digital peak/valley detector which has very little droop.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a digital peak/valley detector which is economical to produce.
An advantage of the present invention is that the digital peak/valley detector can be used to determine frequency modulation (FM) deviations.
Another advantage of the present invention is that the digital peak/valley detector can be used to determine the percent of modulation in an amplitude modulation (AM) signal.
Still another advantage of the present invention is that the digital peak/valley detector can be used to determine signal-to-noise ratios.
Yet another advantage of the present invention is that the digital peak/valley detector can be used to determine peak-to-peak signal values.
The above and other objects and advantages of the present invention are provided by the digital peak/valley detector described herein.